Valley Comes Out On Top Of Offensive ExplosionNORTH MANCHESTER — Both the Manchester Squires and Tippecanoe Valley Vikings entered Friday night’s game winless and a bit banged up. So, something had to give. It was not pretty for either team’s defense, but the Vikings ended up on top after a thrilling 58-43 shootout victory over the Squires in North Manchester to pick up their first win and start the Three Rivers Conference slate at 1-0. Valley amassed over 600 yards of offense while the Squires accumulated a whopping 540 yards of offense themselves. “Defensively, in the first half, I was very pleased,” said Valley head coach Jeff Shriver. “Whether it was fatigue that caused us to lower our play, we need to be more consistent at controlling the line of scrimmage. In the second half, it was a whole different team playing.” The Squires struggled early on both sides of the ball, leaving Valley with plenty of opportunities in the first half to jump out to a sizable lead. “We talked to our kids about finishing strong,” said Manchester head coach Greg Miller. “We made some adjustments, and we called upon them to finish strong.” The barrage from Valley’s offense started with a 56-yard burst from senior running back Nolan Sponseller in the first two minutes of the game. The passing game from senior quarterback Ben Shriver proved just as effective, connecting with junior tight end Jonah Mikel from 7 yards out and senior all-state receiver Tanner Andrews from 38 yards out. Senior halfback Chris Torpy capped off the first quarter onslaught with a 5-yard touchdown run. “Offensive line did a tremendous job blocking for us, giving Ben time to throw,” Shriver said. “We really threw the ball well, caught the ball well and ran the ball well.” Manchester got on the board for the first time in the second quarter after sophomore quarterback Bailey Ness, who was filling in for junior quarterback Lucas Schilling for the time being, completed a 16-yard pass to senior receiver Brodi Carter. Carter fumbled the ball in the end zone, but it was recovered by Thad Miller to pick up the team’s first points of the evening. “Lucas had a hand problem this week, so Bailey saw a lot of reps this week in practice,” Miller said. Valley would score two more times and Manchester’s Jacob Casper had a 75-yard run before halftime, but the Squires failed to score when they were down to Valley’s 1 yard line. After halftime, Greg Miller’s squad kicked things into gear. Casper opened their drive with a 43-yard run, and would score on a 2-yard rush in a four-play, 57-yard drive that took only one minute and five seconds. Valley’s Chris Torpy answered with an 11-yard touchdown run and Shriver hooked up with Mikel for the third time with a 12-yard pass play. Manchester’s Schilling would get back in the game and get the offense clicking with scoring runs of two and 41 yards, including a two-point conversion run from Casper. ““Bailey came in and he really sparked us,” Miller said. “We talked at halftime and decided that we were going to put Lucas back in and finish the game for us.” He did seem fine coming out of the locker room and back onto the field. Schilling scored on the ground again and found an open Brodi Carter in the back of the end zone in the fourth quarter to make things interesting. However, the Shriver-Andrews show hindered any chance of a Manchester comeback after a 40-yard touchdown pass. “Tanner Andrews is a player,” Miller said of the 6-foot-3 receiver who caught eight passes for 290 yards. “We tried to stop him or at least slow him. Coach Shriver should be really proud of his team.” With their first victory of the season under their belt, the Vikings will return home to host Southwood on Friday, who seems to have improved from last season after a 41-35 home loss to Whitko last night. “We have to improve our kickoff team, we have to improve our defense, our tackling and our effort,” Shriver said. Manchester, still seeking their first win, will travel to South Whitley to take on the Wildcats next week. “We’re just going to do more of the same and we’re going to keep them moving, keep them fast and we are going to get a victory soon,” Miller said.
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 58, MANCHESTER 43 TV 27 13 12 6 — 58 M 0 7 22 14 — 43
TV M Rushing yds 153 68 Passing yds 428 176 Comp-Att-Int 19-27-0 12-28-0 Total yds 581 244
First Quarter TV – Nolan Sponseller 56 run (kick failed) 10:11, 6-0 TV – Ben Shriver 7 pass to Jonah Mikel (Sponseller conversion) 6:00, 14-0 TV – Shriver 38 pass to Tanner Andrews (kick failed) 4:01, 20-0 TV – Chris Torpy 5 run (Brandon Webster kick) 1:36, 27-0 Second Quarter M – Thad Miller fumble recovery (Ross Messer kick) 9:21, 27-7 TV – Shriver 53 pass to Andrews (Webster kick) 5:08, 34-7 TV – Shriver 10 pass to Mikel (kick failed) 0:38, 40-7 Third Quarter M – Jacob Casper 2 run (Messer kick) 10:55, 40-14 TV – Torpy 11 run (kick failed) 8:02, 46-14 M – Lucas Schilling 41 run (Messer kick) 4:11, 46-21 TV – Shriver 12 pass to Mikel (PAT failed) 52-21 M – Schilling 2 run (Casper conversion) 0:12, 52-29 Fourth Quarter M – Schilling 5 run (Messer kick) 7:30, 52-36 TV – Shriver 40 pass to Tanner Andrews (kick failed) 6:39, 58-36 M – Schilling 12 pass to Brodi (conversion failed) 4:07, 58-43
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS Rushing — Tippy Valley, Sponseller 5-98, Torpy 10-55; Manchester, Schilling 13-68. Passing — Tippy Valley, Shriver 19-27, 428 yds, 6 TDs; Manchester, Schilling 12-28, 176 yds, 2 TDs. Receiving — Tippy Valley, Andrews 8-290, Mikel 3-30; Manchester, Carter 3-42.
